Who owns your e-mail

[scarletlib]

Interesting article I found on buzzflash. The story is compelling in and of itself. With the increase in electronic communications just who does own the 'mail' becomes more important.

"John Ellsworth's fight for his son's e-mails from the battlefields of Iraq rages on, but news that Justin was awarded a Bronze Star for bravery brought more pride and more tears

Justin M. Ellsworth, a 20-year-old lance corporal, was killed Nov. 13 during a foot patrol with other Marines in Al Anbar province.

Justin's family knew few details of his death, but a letter authorizing the Bronze Star with Combat Distinguished Service revealed that Justin, whose job was to locate and destroy hidden bombs, discovered a homemade explosive that morning and moved toward the bomb to investigate it.

In December, John Ellsworth found himself in a legal battle with Internet company Yahoo! when he tried to access Justin's Yahoo! E-mail account, which contained hundreds of communications between Justin and his family and friends"

http://www.detnews.com/2005/metro/0503/02/C01-103759.htm

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

1. Fits with this:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x3213117

[scarletlib]

4. yes, this is a new frontier

issues about free speech and who owns what do need to be worked out.

I absolutely support the free speech aspects of the net. That' what I like most. The freeflow of information and the ability to go right to the source. We might be in much worse shape in the country media-wise if it weren't for the net.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

5. Well, I was thinking

less about free speech and more about the coming control of the internet by the "truth" peddlers.

[brainshrub]

2. I think Yahoo is acting reasonably.

This is uncharted legal territory, and Yahoo has already said that they will not delete the emails after 120 days.

I suspect that Yahoo wants to give the password to Ellsworth's family, but also wants legal cover to prevent privacy-groups from suing.

[China_cat]

3. Yahoo has done this with everything

they've bought up. Geocities, One List, mail, the whole works. Their terms of service state that anything you put on one of their sites is theirs to do with as they please...collect, edit, publish elsewhere, use for advertisements, etc...without remuneration or attribution and without having to notify the poster before hand.

It's one of the reasons I will have nothing to do with anything that I find the Yahoo brand on.
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Section 8 of the TOS (although they TRY to say they don't claim ownership and try to say that they only apply this to public content.)

However, with respect to Content you submit or make available for inclusion on publicly accessible areas of the Service, you grant Yahoo! the following world-wide, royalty free and non-exclusive license(s), as applicable:

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